Storage devices, such as SD cards, are being utilized not only as stateless memory devices but also as a platform for supporting complex transactions during a secure session after a mutual authentication process authenticates the storage device with a host device, and vice versa. A sudden power down during a complex transaction requires the storage device to transition back to its state before the power loss. That can require, for example, fully re-authenticating the storage device with the host device using an RSA login authentication process. Such re-authentication is time consuming and degrades the overall system performance, especially when it occurs in the middle of a host-storage device transaction. For example, after a storage device powers up, the storage device can be initialized at an operational state which has no prior knowledge (e.g., operational knowledge) from its previous power-up state. In this way, an authentication procedure must be performed by both the storage device and the host device each time a power down occurs in order to re-commence a secured channel between the storage device and the host device. For example, in the case of an RSA log-in authentication process, a full authentication process applied between the storage device and the host device after each power loss includes performing each of the following three phases: a public key verification phase, a private key verification phase, and a session key agreement phase. This is a time-consuming process that can degrade the overall system performance.